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Weesner Charitable Trust Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

Weesner Charitable Trust Fund

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$68k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$62k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

91% of Weesner Charitable Trust Fund’s FY2025 grant dollars went to The Minneapolis Foundation, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 5 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

6
’17
6
’18
6
’19
6
’20
5
’21
5
’22
5
’23
6
’24
5
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$575kReligion$17kEducation$11kHealth$6kArts & Culture$5kYouth Development$2kHuman Services$2k
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k8 grants · $6k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $62k
$600
Median grant
3
States reached
$1.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION$62,117
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF MN$1,500
GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY$1,200
CARLETON COLLEGE$1,200
SHRINERS HOSP CHILDREN TRUST$600
YMCA$600
MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ART$300
VISION LOSS RESOURCES$300
MINNESOTA ORCHESTRAL ASSN$300
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%CARLETON COLLEGE: $1k → 11%THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $68k → 11%VISION LOSS RESOURCES: $300 → 14%YMCA: $600 → 14%CARLETON COLLEGE: $1k → 11%THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $66k → 11%VISION LOSS RESOURCES: $300 → 14%YMCA: $600 → 14%CARLETON COLLEGE: $1k → 11%THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $63k → 11%VISION LOSS RESOURCES: $300 → 14%YMCA: $600 → 14%CARLETON COLLEGE: $1k → 11%THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $62k → 11%CARLETON COLLEGE: $1k → 11%THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $62k → 11%CARLETON COLLEGE: $1k → 11%THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $61k → 11%CARLETON COLLEGE: $1k → 11%THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $61k → 11%CARLETON COLLEGE: $1k → 11%THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $61k → 11%CARLETON COLLEGE: $1k → 11%THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $60k → 11%GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1k → 11%GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1k → 11%GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1k → 11%GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1k → 11%GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1k → 11%GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1k → 11%GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1k → 11%GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1k → 11%GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1k → 11%MPLS YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSN: $600 → 11%MPLS YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSN: $600 → 11%MPLS YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSN: $600 → 11%MPLS YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSN: $600 → 11%MPLS YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSN: $600 → 11%MPLS YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSN: $600 → 11%FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF MN: $2k → 11%FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF MN: $2k → 11%FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF MN: $2k → 11%FIRST CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY: $2k → 11%FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF MN: $2k → 11%FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF MN: $2k → 11%FIRST CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY: $2k → 11%FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF MN: $2k → 11%FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF MN: $2k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$54k · 11 repeat orgs$0 to everyone else

11 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
0

Total granted

$54k
$0

Still filing today

55%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationPhilanthropyHealthOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • CC
    CARLETON COLLEGE
    9× · 2017–2025 · $11k · revenue +39%
  • SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN
    5× · 2017–2024 · $3k · revenue +120%
  • MS
    MINNEAPOLIS SOCIETY OF FINE ARTS DBA MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS
    9× · 2017–2025 · $3k · revenue +65%

Funded once

    How this is measured

    Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

    04Its field
    04the grantee network

    7 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

    Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

    How this is measured

    Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 7 of the 12 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

    Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

    0
    Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
    0
    Early backer (in before they grew)
    7/7
    Grantees still filing
    4/7
    Grew since first funded

    Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

    THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $564,185 · PhilanthropyTHE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION+1 more: $10,800 · PhilanthropyFIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF MN: $10,500 · OtherMPLS YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSN: $3,600 · OtherFIRST CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY: $3,000 · OtherVISION LOSS RESOURCES INC: $2,700 · OtherSHRINERS HOSP CHILDREN TRUST: $2,400 · OtherYMCA: $1,800 · OtherCARLETON COLLEGE: $10,800 · EducationMINNESOTA ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION: $2,700 · Arts & CultureMINNEAPOLIS SOCIETY OF FINE ARTS DBA MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS: $2,700 · Arts & CultureSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $3,000 · Health
    Philanthropy$574,985Other$24,000Education$10,800Arts & Culture$5,400Health$3,000

    Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

    25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $564,185 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetCARLETON COLLEGE: $10,800 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $10,800 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $3,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMINNESOTA ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION: $2,700 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetVISION LOSS RESOURCES INC: $2,700 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetMINNEAPOLIS SOCIETY OF FINE ARTS DBA MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS: $2,700 over 9y, 0.0% of budget
    Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

    A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

    • Who funds THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION ↗
    • Who funds CARLETON COLLEGE ↗
    • Who funds GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY ↗
    • Who funds SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN ↗
    • Who funds MINNESOTA ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION ↗
    • Who funds VISION LOSS RESOURCES INC ↗
    • Who funds MINNEAPOLIS SOCIETY OF FINE ARTS DBA MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS ↗

    How much its grantees rely on government

    Each dot is one organization Weesner Charitable Trust Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Weesner Charitable Trust Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

    2024
    ’20’21’22’23’24’25
    no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
    • Shriners Hospitals for Children: 0% of income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 12 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Weesner’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home